to Radio Free Asia and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, the prosecution delayed the trial because a crowd of Chen supporters gathered outside the courthouse. With only a few days' notice, authorities rescheduled Chen's trial for 18 August 2006. On the eve of his trial, all three of his lawyers, including Xu Zhiyong of the Yitong Law Firm, were detained by Yinan police; two were released after being questioned. Neither Chen's lawyers nor his wife were allowed in the courtroom for the trial. Authorities appointed their own public defender for Chen just before the trial began. The trial lasted only two hours. On 24 August 2006, Chen was sentenced to four years and three months for "damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic". As a result of Chen's trial, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett selected his case for the cover of the British government's 2006 human rights report, stating concern over the handling of Chen's case and calling for the Chinese government "to prove its commitment to building rule of law". A columnist for The Globe and Mail also criticized the verdict, writing that "Even assuming [Chen] did damage 'doors and windows,' as well as cars, and interrupt traffic for three hours, it is difficult to argue a four-year prison sentence is somehow proportionate to the offence." On 30 November 2006, Yinan County court upheld Chen's sentence, and on 12 January 2007, the Linyi Intermediate Court in Shandong Province rejected his final appeal. The same court had overturned his original conviction in December 2006, citing lack of evidence. However, Chen was convicted in a second trial on identical charges and given an identical sentence by the Yinan court. Following the trial, Amnesty International declared him to be a prisoner of conscience, "jailed solely for his peaceful activities in defence of human rights". House arrest After his release from prison in 2010, Chen was placed under house arrest against Chinese law, and was closely monitored by security forces. Legally, he was proclaimed by the government to be a free man, but in reality the local government offered no explanation for the hundreds of unidentified agents monitoring his house and preventing visitors or escape. He and his wife attempted to communicate with the outside world via video tape and letters. Letters described beatings Chen and his wife were subjected to, seizure of documents and communication devices, cutting off of electric power